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A Flash Fiction Trio

Physical ExperimentIf there is no net force, there can be no acceleration.

She met him in her Physics class, listening attentively from his seat in the front row. What is there to know about the law of gravity or Newton’s laws of motion? Only abstract concepts made tangible by experiment. But she taught this to her class anyhow. Like she did not admit that opposites really do attract, and that objects inevitably fall, and that bodies of matter do not move unless something (or someone) exerts some kind of force on them.

The net force on an object is proportional to the acceleration that the object undergoes.

The interested look in his eyes made her uneasy. She felt like one of her peers in high school who fell head over heels in love with some cute teenage boy winking at them in the hallway. The boy’s eyes gleamed with admiration and when he smiled, she swooned over him.

For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

Once, while walking down the pathway alone, he offered to carry her books. She could not even stare back at him as she handed him the books. Both of them spoke sparingly. But he would whistle against the cool, crisp air. And he had such a confident and majestic air about him, so that when they walked side by side, he wasn’t a boy anymore but indeed a full-grown man.

Final Excursion
Her knees trembled as she looked down at the city that was home to her for the past twenty years. From the top of the building, she was overcome with emotions from knowing how tiny the world has become. Everything looked small enough to be laid on the palm of her hand. And for a moment she thought her fate would have been sealed much earlier than she would have hoped. Not that she was having second thoughts, but there were so many things to consider with so little time to do it. And she stood still, fighting off nausea and agitation as she beheld the beautiful scene before her for the first time—the sky gave prominence to the stars, shining like they never had before, and people moving about like ants below, as neon signs gave life to the city people’s nighttime rendezvous—oh how wonderful the life they live! As she jumped off the edge, she began to wonder if these people’s lives would stop for her. There was a sudden rush of adrenaline, like she can’t wait to be with them, to join them in their singular absorption to celebrate each night of their lives as if it were their last.

Disco Lights
In a month, she would be giving birth to her first baby. As she stroked her bulging stomach with the palm of her hand, she was reminded of the man who came into her life and left as quickly.

They met at a nightclub, fell in love at first sight and got together. A strong surge of passion swept her, like the dizzying spin of disco lights overhead, as they danced with their bodies rubbing against each other.

Until he asked for the ultimate expression of her love.

“You say you love me, right?” he asked her with probing eyes.

“Of course, I do,” she said, in an effort to erase an emerging doubt in his eyes.

“Why don’t you show it?”

“Haven’t I shown enough?”

“It’s never enough until we do it together. Trust me, will you?”

“What about our plans?”

“I promise you we’re going to fulfill them together,” he said.

“What if something happens?”

“Nothing will happen, so you don’t have to be afraid,” he said, caressing her hair gently, up and down.

So she gave in.

Waking up the next day, she found him gone. She couldn’t see his naked back from her side of the bed. The sheet was as smooth as if no one had lain on it.